1. Features
♥ Officiant: Our
ordained Yosemite minister officiates for your wedding or other special event (see our nine event types above) and offers lots of great ideas for adding your special elements to the ceremony and to your celebration day as a whole.
♥ A Different Kind of Venue:
We provide our Yosemite-specific, step-by-step guidance for your "made easy" planning.
- We help you streamline your planning with insights from years of experience here in Yosemite, which is a very different kind of venue posing unique planning challenges.
- We offer creative ideas and guidance relative to:
- Park Service protocol.
- Governmental and private business policies, procedures, and interactions.
- Ceremony planning for this unique environment.
- Optional amenities* such as photography, flowers, music, videography, formal wear, caterers, bakers, lodging, regional travel, receptions, amazing low-cost Yosemite celebration alternatives following your ceremony, as well as various other items of interest to you in your planning. *NOTE: These "optional amenities" entail separate pricing that would be arranged with you by the various vendors and establishments.
♥ "One-of-a-Kind" Reception or Other Celebration:
We provide innovative features for you to plan a unique reception or other special celebration.
- These features are included as part of this Yosemite Package for ALL of the events above.
- You can plan a
"Formal Reception,"
a "Yosemite Meal Celebration,"
an "All Yosemite Celebration,"
or some variation that you may envision.
- NOTE: This Yosemite Package does not include the cost of any items directly related to a reception or other celebration, such as food or the rental of venue facilities.
♥ Spectacular Wedding Sites: We provide very specific National Park information with pertinent suggestions to aid in your selecting from numerous year-round location options for your celebration at incredibly beautiful, easily accessible sites throughout Yosemite National Park ~ and beyond!
- There are potentially unlimited location options, depending upon various National Park factors, your budget, time of year, day of the week, number of guests, your plans for a reception or other type of celebration afterwards, and of course, the type of setting you envision.
- Many of these sites are "hidden" and "off the beaten aisle" ~ great ceremony locations that we have "discovered" over the years ~ all around Yosemite, as well as throughout the broader Yosemite Region ~ for which we have created detailed online maps to assist in finding these hidden gems.
- We also provide our services at favorite locations throughout California ~ including right at people's own homes when they request that.
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Prompt Responses:
We make it a goal to quickly get back to you in response to your questions and specific planning details, along with numerous Yosemite area options and creative ideas as you plan from a distance.
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Individual Tailoring of Package Features: Careful attention to details is provided for either your short-notice arrangements or your long-term planning, based upon your particular interests, budget, time of year, number of guests, travel plans, and numerous other potential items of your planning.
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Resources for Guests: We provide assistance to your guests in their planning.
- You can refer your guests to us with their questions regarding lodging or other Yosemite-related matters.
- This takes the pressure off of you to try to research their questions and get back to them.
- Simply give your guests our phone numbers (found at the bottom of each page of this website).
♥ Ceremony and Rehearsal:
We provide a unique Yosemite ceremony, as well as a rehearsal option.
- We offer lots of innovative ideas for adding special elements to the ceremony if you wish ~ favorite music, poetry, family traditions, vows to children, participation of family members, personal spiritual elements, or other unique items.
- Our ordained Yosemite minister always integrates wonderfully inspiring Yosemite highlights, usual ceremony elements referring to God and Christ who made this Magnificent Cathedral, a short biblical reading, as well as a personal prayer for you relative to your special celebration ~ corresponding, as is standard protocol, to the officiant's ordination to Christian ministry, and providing the legal basis for serving as officiant.
- If you should wish, 45 minutes or so before the ceremony, the minister can coordinate a brief rehearsal with everyone who is participating in the ceremony.
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Ceremony Keepsakes:
We provide an attractive personalized Yosemite ceremony booklet containing the wording of your ceremony ~ along with a coordinating Yosemite certificate suitable for framing.
♥ Marriage License & Related Legal Matters:
We fulfill the required legal responsibilities of the officiant for a wedding or elopement in California, and provide easy-to-follow information for you regarding your own legal and cost-related responsibilities.
- As a feature of this Yosemite Package we provide detailed, "made-easy" steps for you to obtain your California marriage license which you will need to bring with you to your ceremony.
- We provide information for the two of you together, in keeping with State and County guidelines, to acquire your California marriage license in person here in California in advance of your wedding or elopement.
- We provide information about how to apply for, pay for (the cost varying from County to County), and receive your marriage license at one of the designated California County offices.
- We officiate for your ceremony, which is a legally required element for a wedding in California.
- Following your ceremony we complete your California marriage license and arrange for its return to the County office that issued it.
- We address follow-up items related to the filing of your marriage license with the County that issued it.
♥ Photography: At NO charge ~ if you are not planning on having other photography services ~ we would be delighted, as a Yosemite wedding photographer, to take some traditional and candid photos with your camera at your ceremony site following your event.
- Just let us know if you would like some photos taken.
- Be sure to bring a camera.
- We can use your phone's camera if you wish.
- You may prefer the option of using one of our complete "Just Picture it"
photography packages. These packages are significantly DISCOUNTED when ADDED to this Yosemite Package.
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Navigation of Park Service Guidelines:
We provide recommendations as you may desire regarding various Park Service items.
- A wedding permit issued by the Park Service is typically $150.00 (though there is a possibility it could be more, depending upon your plans).
- Couples arrange for and pay for the permit directly with the Park Service.
- However, we suggest checking with us prior to submitting the permit application, as we can provide key recommendations relative to your wedding that can be quite beneficial in planning for your ceremony location as well as other related factors.
- You'll want to look over any Park Service announcements and check with us if you have questions.
- Certain times of the year during busy hours of the day, the Park Service may require vehicle entrance reservations for vehicles entering Yosemite, to mitigate Park overcrowding. We encourage you to check with us for suggestions to simplify your stay relative to any possible vehicle reservations.